Around £1billion worth of old-style £10 notes is thought to remain in circulation, with just days to go until they are no longer accepted in UK shops.

The Bank of England said the withdrawal rate is ‘broadly as expected’ ahead of the March 1 deadline, at which point the paper £10 note will cease to be legal tender – replaced completely by the polymer version.

Anyone with the old notes beyond this point will still be able to exchange them for the new equivalent at the Bank of England. The Jane Austen polymer note was launched last September as an update on the old version featuring Charles Darwin.

Figures a week ago indicated that the value of paper £10 notes in circulation was around £2.182 billion – the equivalent of around 218 million paper £10 notes.